Over the past 30 years, Moravian University has established a nationally ranked Division III softball program built on a foundation created through the recruitment of local high school players.
The first 29 seasons were under the direction of 1982 Moravian graduate John Byrne, who led the Greyhounds to 17 conference titles since 2000, 18 appearances in the NCAA Division III tournament and three trips to the World Series. His record of 923-257 stands as the eighth-best in D-III history.
So how has the transfer of power at the top from Byrne to his former assistant Josh Baltz gone?
Seamless, to say the least.
The Greyhounds are 37-10 and headed to the Division III World Series for the first time since 2010 when they open play against top-seeded Salisbury (Md.) at noon Thursday, in Marshall, Texas. The winner will face the No. 4 Christopher Newport vs. No. 5 Berry winner in the second round of the double-elimination format 5 p.m. Friday.
Moravian has achieved its lofty perch as one of the final eight teams by fielding what might be its most “local” team ever.
Seven position starters and both starting pitchers are from either the Lehigh Valley or Warren and Hunterdon counties. Working through the Greyhounds’ lineup that won the Medford (Mass.) Regional two weekends ago and toppled Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a best-of-three games Super Regional this past weekend are the following players:
Third baseman Holly Walter, a sophomore from Southern Lehigh.
Left fielder Mya Zettlemoyer, a junior from Allentown Central Catholic.
First baseman Lindsey Gawrys, a sophomore from Whitehall.
Catcher Marcie Silberman, a freshman from Salisbury.
Right fielder Sage Snyder, a sophomore from North Warren.
Designated hitter Emily Silberman, a junior from Salisbury.
Center fielder Jessica Forder, a sophomore from Phillipsburg.
Pitcher Madi Cunningham, a sophomore from Whitehall.
Pitcher Sarah DeStefano, a freshman from Hunterdon Central.
A 10th local product, sophomore infielder Ren Herschman of Northampton, has seen action in 13 games.
“It feels really good to rep the Lehigh Valley because there are a lot of good players in the area,” Cunningham said.
Baltz can relate to the program’s formula for success. He, too, was a local high school player (football and baseball at Easton, Class of 2004), who matriculated to Moravian to play baseball, where he accumulated more than 100 hits in three seasons before graduating in 2008.
“Even dating back to when I came here, the foundation at Moravian was always try to get the best players from the Lehigh Valley,” Baltz said. “We were fortunate that when we recruited them, they were attracted to us.”
Josh Baltz, a 2004 Easton and 2008 Moravian graduate, has led his alma mater into the NCAA Division III College Softball World Series in his first season as head coach.Photo courtesy Moravian University athletics
It doesn’t hurt that championship banners stretch from foul pole to foul pole at Blue & Grey Field at the school’s Steel Field complex at Center and Elizabeth avenues.
The Lehigh Valley players that came before them at Moravian set the standard so future recruits are aware they can remain local and play against the best competition in Division III.
Even Snyder couldn’t resist what Moravian offered her athletically and academically as a health sciences major.
“When I was in high school, I said there’s no way I’d go to college in Pennsylvania, I didn’t like anything about Pennsylvania,” said Snyder, who’s from Columbia, New Jersey. “Coach Byrne saw me play during the summer, and I came here for a visit. It was right before COVID hit, it was raining, it was miserable, but immediately I liked the campus and coaches. I came here for a winter clinic, took one more visit and decided this is where I wanted to be.”
While the Greyhounds are bringing strong, local players into their program, they often are not getting the most decorated. For instance, Gawrys is the only one of the group who was selected to a lehighvalleylive.com All-Area softball first team during her scholastic career.
But when they get to Moravian, the expectations to succeed raises their level of production. Last year, Cunningham was a finalist for the NFCA Division III Freshman of the Year Award, and Marcie Silberman was a finalist for the same honor this year.
“I wasn’t expecting this kind of season coming from a small school like Salisbury where we didn’t have much success,” Silberman said. “I was kind of expecting an adjustment period to playing in college.”
Silberman’s adjustment period was short-lived. She tore the cover off the ball early in the season while rotating behind the plate with Zettlemoyer. Baltz, wanting to get the best players on the field, moved the versatile Zettlemoyer to the outfield and kept Silberman behind the plate as the Landmark Conference season commenced. She’s hitting .362 – second-best to Walter’s .381 – and leads the team with six home runs.
Player development? Snyder and Forder, the Warren County representatives, are Exhibits 1 and 1A.
The duo played in just 12 games each as freshmen when the Greyhounds posted a 29-5 mark and lost to Susquehanna in the conference championship game. This spring, Snyder has started every game along with Walter and junior shortstop and captain Ajala Elmore. Forder has played in 44 games with 42 starts and is batting .293 with 18 RBIs.
Snyder, who is hitting .347, was named the Super Regional Most Outstanding Player. She blasted a two-run homer and added a two-run double as Moravian staved off elimination with a 5-2 win over 16th-ranked MIT. In the deciding third game vs. MIT, which the Greyhounds won 8-0 in five innings, Snyder contributed an RBI double and hit by pitch with the bases loaded.
“I knew last year that there wasn’t much room on the field for me, but I kept working hard,” Snyder said. “It’s very similar to what I went through in high school, where I had so much growth as a player between my freshman and sophomore seasons. I got a lot of confidence under my belt.”
“We try to push how important our strength and conditioning program is,” Baltz said, “and how we practice early in the season is important, too.”
The Moravian University softball team celebrates after defeating 16th-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the NCAA Division III Super Regional last weekend.Photo courtesy Moravian University athletics
The Greyhounds bring a .315 batting average into their World Series opener and have outscored opponents 257-118. The two other ingredients to their success are pitching and fielding.
Baltz has the luxury of starting either Cunningham or DeStefano in the circle, and often neither pitcher knows who will get the start until right before the game.
“He (Baltz) makes the decision, and really it’s a coin toss,” Cunningham said. “Whatever is working. Sometimes, it’s a little bit about matchups. Last week, with Tufts, Sarah was pitching well.”
In the first-round regional, hosted by seventh-ranked Tufts, DeStefano was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. She threw a two-hitter in a 1-0 win over Tufts in a winner’s bracket game and then came back to go the distance in a 4-1, eight-inning victory over Tufts in the championship contest. Cunningham was the hard-luck loser in a 3-0 loss to Tufts that forced the eight-inning “if necessary” game that was held over two days because of a rain delay.
This past weekend in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Baltz opened with DeStefano, who suffered the loss in a 5-1 defeat to MIT. Baltz switched to Cunningham the next day, and the former Whitehall standout went the distance in both triumphs and was selected the Super Regional Most Outstanding Pitcher.
Cunningham enters the World Series with an 18-6 record, 2.00 ERA and 22 complete games in 26 outings (24 starts). DeStefano is 16-3 with a 1.88 ERA in 22 games (20 starts) with 16 complete games. The two have combined to strike out 177 and walk only 46 in 290.2 innings.
“It’s a privilege to have two pitchers like Madi and Sarah,” Baltz said. “You need more than one at this level. You don’t want someone like MIT to see the same pitcher for three straight games because hitters will adjust no matter how good the pitcher is.
“Both pitchers are similar – they’re drop-ball pitchers who command and dominate the strike zone. Neither of them has a high walk rate. We want them to induce ground balls and let their defense do the rest.”
Still, there must be something more besides hitting, pitching, fielding and coaching that’s propelled Moravian into the World Series. This squad, the players say, is extremely close. Maybe the fact the roster is loaded with freshmen and sophomores actually works in its favor.
“We just don’t give up; we do better under pressure,” said Cunningham, when asked how the Greyhounds rallied to win after trailing in five straight postseason games.
“We just clicked together on the field,” Marcie Silberman said. “We understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
“They’re young kids, they don’t know any different,” Baltz said. “We’ve won a lot of games coming back. Offensively, we don’t give up. They give us good quality at-bats and we walk a lot.”
Sophomore third baseman Holly Walter of Southern Lehigh bats leadoff and is Moravian's offensive catalyst. Walter leads the Greyhounds with a .381 batting average, 47 runs, four triples, 59 hits, and 18 stolen bases.Photo courtesy Moravian University athletics
And, maybe, just maybe, the Greyhounds have tapped into an inner resolve Baltz developed playing for the tradition-rich Easton football program.
“Oh, absolutely, that’s had an influence on me,” said Baltz, who was a senior starter on Easton’s 2003 District 11 championship team. “There’s a little fight in my personality from playing football on Friday nights.”
Now, Moravian will try to hoist one more championship trophy in a state that is synonymous with Friday Night Lights.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.
Corky Blake can be reached at [email protected].